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Gold is hardly changed although likely to take heart from weaker dollar

17 July 2017 - 14:38
Eric Onstad

Gold bars are seen at the Austrian Gold and Silver Separating Plant 'Oegussa' in Vienna, Austria. File picture: REUTERS/LEONHARD FOEGER

London — Gold was steady on Monday and likely to see further gains after the dollar slumped to multi-month lows on the back of data that pointed to weak US inflation and less chance of rate increases.

"The dollar continues to be on the back foot and yields have dropped back somewhat from their relatively elevated positioning lately," said analyst Jonathan Butler at Mitsubishi in London.

Spot gold was up 0.2% to $1,230.51/oz at 10.06am GMT while US gold futures for August delivery rose 0.2% to $1,229.70/oz.

"If gold remains at $1,230 or goes higher, there’s an elevated risk that some of those short positions might start to be reversed and that would give some further upside to gold," Butler added.

Recent soft US inflation and domestic demand figures undermined arguments for the US Federal Reserve to raise interest rates, with traders cutting back their bets on the likelihood of an increase in December. The US dollar nursed losses at a 10-month low against a basket of currencies on Monday as investors cheered upbeat Chinese data by piling into leveraged positions such as the Australian dollar and other high-yielding currencies.

If gold remains at $1,230 or goes higher, there’s an elevated risk that some of those short positions might start to be reversed and that would give some further upside to gold.

Jonathan Butler, Mitsubishi

A weaker greenback supports gold since the dollar-priced commodity is less expensive for investors holding other currencies.

China’s economy expanded faster than expected in the second quarter, setting the country on course to comfortably meet its 2017 growth target.

"Investor sentiment [for gold] has improved quite dramatically over the past week, especially with the weak data out of the US last week," said ANZ analyst Daniel Hynes. "Gold is now primed for another rally."

On the technical front, gold was likely to significantly break above key resistance at the 200-day moving average near $1,230/oz and could even rise to the $1,250 level in the shorter term, Hynes said. "The technical bounce looks fairly solid," he said.

Spot gold may gain further to $1,239/oz, as it had cleared resistance at $1,226, said Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao.

Among other precious metals, spot silver rose 0.6% to $16.05/oz, after hitting $16.09, the highest in more than a week, earlier in the session.

Platinum was up 0.9% at $923.50/oz after touching its highest in two weeks at $925.60. Palladium shed 0.4% to $854.50/oz.